The other thing is, as Reggie [G. Reginald Daniel] said, Reggie knows that we are all multiracial. He doesn't need a genetic test to prove that. I mean, we know that. Even though this can tell us new information-and I think it is an opportunity for conversation-it's not enough because we already know it and it hasn't been enough. You know that slave owners knew those brown children where their children. Did it matter? They knew those were multiracial children were related to them. It didn't make a difference... To me it is a political revolution that we need to see that we're connected as human beings. Genetics isn't going to do it by itself.

Whites living in areas where they are less exposed to those of other races have a harder time categorizing mixed-race individuals than do Whites with greater interracial exposure, a condition that is associated with greater prejudice against mixed-race individuals, a new experimental study shows.

For decades, research has shown that Whites with lower interracial exposure show greater prejudice against Blacks, but the new study finds they also show a greater prejudice against mixed-race individualsâ€”the fastest growing racial group in the United States.

â€śOur findings show that White individuals with lower interracial exposure tend to exhibit greater prejudice against mixed-race individuals,â€ť explains Jonathan Freeman, an assistant professor in New York Universityâ€™s Department of Psychology and the studyâ€™s lead author. â€śThe results suggest that this bias arises in individuals with lower interracial exposure because they visually process racially ambiguous faces in a more difficult and unpredictable fashion, and this unstable experience translates into negative biases against mixed-race people.â€ť

The studyâ€™s other authors included Kristin Pauker, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Diana Sanchez, an associate professor of psychology at Rutgers University.

The research, which appears in the journal Psychological Science, considered two national samples totaling approximately 350 subjects. It determined subjectsâ€™ interracial exposure by matching Census data with their zip codes. To gauge subjectsâ€™ responses, the researchers relied on an innovative mouse-tracking technique that uses an individualâ€™s hand movements to reveal unconscious cognitive processes. Unlike surveys, in which individuals can consciously alter their responses, this technique requires respondents to make split-second decisions about others where an unconsciousâ€”and more honestâ€”preference can be uncovered through their hand-motion trajectory…